1981 Gauge restoration.
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Heel & Toe
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 15
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1981 Gauge restoration ?'s
So, I'm a few weeks away from starting my interior restoration, I've had my car parked for going on 5 years pending this work. All of my gauges are in good working order, but on the ones with orange paint, it has been faded somewhat heavily.
How feasible is it for me to restore the gauge faces (orange paint) so I can avoid the $60 a piece replacements. I'm already gutting and replacing 95% of the interior and I'm pretty much exceeding my budget as-is.
Any ideas, tips? Ridicule? Hysterical laughter at my gluttony for self inflicted pain?
Thanks,
Joe
How feasible is it for me to restore the gauge faces (orange paint) so I can avoid the $60 a piece replacements. I'm already gutting and replacing 95% of the interior and I'm pretty much exceeding my budget as-is.
Any ideas, tips? Ridicule? Hysterical laughter at my gluttony for self inflicted pain?
Thanks,
Joe
Last edited by obelisk79; Jun 23, 2010 at 05:00 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
Likes: 3,118
From: Crossville TN
Any gauge pointers that are [da-glo] orange can be easily recolored once the gauge is disassembled and needle removed (carefully using the right tool so that the mechanism is not damaged). The color on the gauge dial face is not so easy. If you mask off any part of the markers or painted face items, you can easily pull old paint off and make the face look worse. And, if you re-paint by hand, the new paint will not be as accurate and will look 'odd'. I would stay with painting the pointers but leaving the face alone.
